The Works of Hayao Miyazaki Quotes

“Chihiro is terrified of forgetting her name, yet it is during this period as Sen that she gradually finds composure, grows as a person and understands herself. As the movie progresses, she becomes less worried about her parents’ fate because she gains an independence and belief in herself.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Kamaji has warned Sen that the trip is one way, there is no return journey. In this sense, the trip could be considered an allegory for life, there is no going back in time. The heroine confronts it with remarkable composure and determination,”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Miyazaki asserted that this character is the personification of contemporary Japan. A country that had forgotten its values and identity, diving headfirst into rampant consumption and the worship of Mammon and thus behaving in an aberrant or violent manner.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Sen’s meeting with Boh, Yubaba’s mollycoddled baby, brings her face-to-face with what she was as Chihiro: protected from the outside world, fearful of what she did not know. Her journey in an initially unknown world is the opportunity to travel within herself to find out more about who she is and let her buried talents come to the fore. One particular scene marvelously symbolizes what the young girl is going to experience: her descent down the stairway at the beginning. Fearful when setting out, she steps slowly and reluctantly. But with a gust of wind and a step that breaks she hurtles down the stairs running, with incredible precision and no tripping. The second time when she must take such a path along the side of the bathhouse, she runs confidently and without hesitation along a rusty, decrepit pipe with her life on the line. Her development between these two scenes is incredible.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Miyazaki has stated in interviews that she is a nervous girl because she is over-protected.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“by until that moment and, by extension, her identity and the roots connecting her to her parents. Chihiro literally becomes “thousand,” a simple number among the innumerable employees at the bathhouse. Yet, in the world of Aburaya, a person cannot return home if they have forgotten their original name. Through the contraction of a name, Yubaba obtains immense control over her employees. The most striking example comes from Haku: he is the spirit of a river drained for urbanization, thus a damned soul, his original name forgotten, his identity obliterated. The Japanese title of the film, 千と千尋の神隠し Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, easily expresses this difference of personality. “Kamikakushi” is a word used in Japan to speak of disappearances, with the implication that the missing person, especially a child, has been taken away by a god or spirit (as done by the Tengu when they began appearing in Japanese folklore). The original title takes on a very interesting meaning, since it also allows for a double meaning; the translation can be “The Disappearance of Sen and Chihiro” or “Sen and the Disappearance of Chihiro.” This second possibility illustrates further what is depicted on the screen. While passing through the bathhouse world, Chihiro is put to one side and the Sen part of her personality develops,”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“A major theme in Spirited Away is the young girl’s deconstruction into a type of positive schizophrenia that enables her personal development. The pivotal moment is when Yubaba changes Chihiro’s name; the consequence of this act only fully reveals itself to those who have some knowledge of Japanese. In the Japanese language, the first name and surname are made up of characters called kanji that have one meaning but have several pronunciations depending on whether they are used alone or with other words. In the case of “Chihiro,” the name is formed by the kanji “sen” (for “thousand”) and “jin” (meaning “search” or “question”).”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Kaonashi”) acts as a reflection of the father. The ability to pay, in his case gold, should let him do anything. But Chihiro makes No-Face aware that it is not so ‒ she will never accept anything from him because what she is searching for cannot be bought or consumed. From this realization, No-Face loses his reference points (his relational blueprint disintegrates) and enters a state of madness and destruction. His gluttony, however, is only a means to fill an emptiness given his despondency and anguish when he cannot buy the relationship with Chihiro.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Furthermore, Chihiro and Alice share a key relationship with food: the lavish meal transforms the girl’s parents into pigs; Haku’s berry saves her from disappearing and his onigiri2 comfort her; the river spirit’s dumpling cures No-Face and Haku,”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“Spirited Away uses Carrollian symbols (tunnel, river, bridge) not only to mark a crossing but to signpost the difficulty in returning to one’s own world.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“It is rather a hodgepodge of contemporary culture and the director’s imagination.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“It also became the most profitable movie in Japanese history, despite its budget of almost 2 billion yen (equivalent to $17.5 million at the time and $25.2 million in today’s money).”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master

“producer Toshio Suzuki had no idea during production that Spirited Away would break record after record at the box office. In Japan, it became the most watched movie at theaters with over 23 million tickets sold, surpassing Titanic’s record which had beaten the record set by Princess Mononoke.”
― Gael Berton, The Works of Hayao Miyazaki: The Japanese Animation Master